Most commercial jet aircraft engines employ thrust reversers to aid in stopping the aircraft during landing. Aircraft with under-wing-mounted engines typically use a translating sleeve cascade thrust reverser. A translating sleeve cascade thrust reverser includes an outer sleeve covering a fan duct portion of the engine. In use, the outer sleeve translates in an aft direction, dropping down a series of doors to block fan duct air and, in sequence, exposing a series of cascades or turning vanes that redirect the fan duct air outward and forward to reverse the thrust of the engine. The cascades may also feature side tuning flow geometry to prevent hot fan duct air impingement onto critical aircraft structures. The cascades may be grouped and fixed together in several cascade baskets or assemblies.
The individual cascade baskets are positioned radially around the engine's nacelle and are mounted to a fixed structure of the thrust reverser via a forward and aft mount or attach ring. While the fan duct air flows through the cascades, a pressure load is created on their baskets and ultimately reacted into the forward and aft mounts. The individual cascade baskets must provide sufficient stiffness to prevent excessive out of plane bending. Furthermore, if side turning flow geometry is present, a lateral load will exist and the cascade baskets must adequately resist “racking” loads. Cascade baskets are traditionally fabricated using metals. Some cascade baskets are made from composite materials, which are generally lighter and more durable, but generally require a labor intensive fabrication that is more expensive than fabricating traditional metal cascade baskets.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved methods of fabricating cascade thrust reversers.